Members Present: Donna Cole; Jenny Dahlberg, chair; Tim Dalby; Stephanie Elkins; 

Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Deb Shapiro; Lindsey Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler

Guests: Ron Harris, Laurent Heller, Karl Scholz, Jake Smith, Mark Walters

The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m.

The minutes of December 5, 2019 were approved.

Motion to Convene in Closed Session Pursuant to Wis. Stats. 19.85(1)(c), and (f) to Discuss Appointments to the Ad Hoc Committee on First Nations Land Acknowledgement for the Academic Staff Assembly. (Dalby). Seconded. Approved.

• Appointments

Motion to appoint Lauranne Bailey, Aaron Bird Bear, Ryan Bouchard, Daniel Einstein, Lauren Feiner, Joshua Goldman, Deborah Griffin, Toni Gunnison, Weijia Li, Michelle, Miller, Paula Mohan, and Heather Shimon to the Ad Hoc Committee on First Nations Land Acknowledgement for the Academic Staff Assembly (Stoddard Cameron). Seconded. Approved. 

Jenny Dahlberg, ASEC chair, reported that Marty Gustafson and Miranda Hofmann were selected for the Dean of Letters and Science Search and Screen Committee, and Steve Wright and Kim Peterson were selected for the Law School Dean Search and Screen Committee.  The group exploring a switch to biweekly payroll met for the first time. A lot of the discussion was on the timing of the switch to minimize the impact of less money available to employees that first month. The cohort switching to hourly pay due to FLSA changes can help inform how the process might be for a larger group of employees.

Heather Daniels, Secretary of the Academic Staff, reported that she met with the Latinx Academic Staff Association (LASA). This group is reforming after being dormant for more than a decade. Heather offered them assistance from the Secretary’s office in getting information out about their group.

Mallory Musolf, ASEC vice chair, reported on her meeting with the UW System Representatives. Michael Grebe and Drew Petersen attended the meeting to collect feedback for the search and screen committee on what the next UW System President should be like and issues that will be important for that person to understand. The academic staff representatives advocated for including shared governance in the finalists visits.  She also learned that some other UW System institutions are interested in the teaching professor title.

Provost Scholz provided an update on the guidelines for the Research and Teaching Professor titles. The Research Professor title guidelines have been revised and are ready for shared governance to review. The Teaching Professor guidelines are not ready yet. The document was originally 7 pages, and it was revised to less than a page by a small group of Deans. It was then sent back to the committee that originally wrote the guidelines. The committee and Karl have been going back and forth trying to construct a draft that both sides agree to. Once that is complete Karl will bring both drafts to shared governance for review.

The Board of Regents approved a new plan on how to count Wisconsin freshmen at UW-Madison. The old agreement was for 3600 entering Wisconsin residents. The new agreement is for 5200 that includes 3600 entering Wisconsin freshmen based on a three-year rolling average, freshmen entering in the spring from Wisconsin or Minnesota, Minnesota freshmen and Wisconsin resident transfer students. 

Vice Chancellor Heller reported that when he arrived at UW-Madison, we had the slowest growing revenue of the AAU schools. Revenue has grown on average 4.5% per year over the past three years for all funding sources. The area where growth is slow is research. 

In regards to the Administrative Transformation Project, things are going well. Vendors will do online demos in January. 

The Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) approved the 2/2% pay plan. They did not approve the $15 per hour minimum wage for state employees.

Mark reported that they will be rolling out supervisor/employee discussions about the employee’s new title as different areas are ready. They don’t want discussions to happen until the titles are in good shape. The plan is for conversations to finish by May 1. Employees will be notified of their new title, Standard Job Description and pay range on May 1. The appeals process will begin immediately following release of the letters. HRS will go live with the new titles and salary ranges on July 1. 

Michael discussed the Teaching Professor title guidelines. He and Deb Shapiro described some of the areas of disagreement including the need for scholarship in teaching and learning and whether recognition of contributions to the instructional enterprise needs to be beyond the department. 

Business

• Athletic Board Selection Discussion

Jenny Dahlberg and Mallory Musolf were selected by written ballot to serve on the Athletic Board Selection Committee.

• Topics for Provost

International Services (Student, Faculty and Staff)

Policy Library

Financial Aid-Pell Grant Students

Possible Restructuring of Provost Office 

Meeting adjourned at 4:34 p.m.